6 Steps to a Positive Mindset

I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear. ~ Nelson Mandela

Fear and negative thoughts can be paralyzing and prevent you from reaching goals. Transform all areas of life with a positive mindset, from career, family, friendships, school and more.

Signs of a Negative Mindset

Before you decided to create positive change in your mind, you should recognize that these are the signs that show whether someone has a negative form of thinking. This also applied to other people who you perceive to have a negative mindset. Here are the signs:

You tend to focus on the negative aspects of your life and have difficulty seeing the more positive part of your life. For instance, you had a great day at work and finished a difficult issue at work. Instead of appreciating yourself after the good job at work, you go home and continue on your task without acknowledging yourself.

You blame yourself first and foremost. An example is when an accident happens or when a friend refuses to go out with you. At that instant, you immediately think that the accident was your fault or that your friend changed plans because you have done something terrible.

Any small occurrence could rattle your confidence for the day. This could be as simple as having an accident in the morning and thinking that your day will go horribly because of what happened.

All-or-nothing sort of thinking. Perfectionism is something that would negatively affect the state of your mind. Having too high standards for yourself will give you unnecessary stress while placing yourself as a complete failure will lower your sense of self-esteem.

How to have a more positive mindset?

If you are one who tends to think more negatively, there are several ways to make your mind feel at ease. The process may not be immediate, but you may find your steps feeling lighter as the time goes by:

Allow Yourself to Feel Negative Emotions

Although the main goal is to have a more positive mindset, it would be better not to strain yourself too much. Going cold turkey and aiming to achieve it 24/7 is unrealistic, as there are bound to be times when you feel negatively about this situation. To deny that humane part of you will just make the process of change much more difficult.

If you allow yourself to truly feel how you are feeling, then changing would become a much easier process. Do it by gently reminding yourself of thinking positively at times your emotions are at turmoil. You may find that the intensity of negative emotions decreases and its duration getting shorter.

Say Positive Affirmations throughout the day

Self-talk is one of the underrated methods to achieve the change that you want. It may seem miniscule, but the things that you say to yourself will greatly impact your state of mind. Saying positive affirmations directly affect your state of mind and would therefore impact the actions you do on the daily basis.

Start by saying positive affirmations the moment you wake up. This would remind you of your positive mindset goals and would also set you in a good mood for the rest of the day. Choose words that you know would create a positive mindset such as ‘I am great’ or ‘Today will be a good day’.

If something were to take your positivity for the day, create the habit of turning it into a positive thought. For instance, you can change the sentence ‘I am awful at this’ into ‘once I get more practice, I’ll get better at this’.

Take inspiration from other people

Inspiration does not only have to come from yourself, but can come from other people. In fact, looking at other people who you know have a much more positive outlook will help you achieve your goals and draw inspiration from them. Of course, this does not mean following other people’s actions every step of the way.

Take inspiration from as many sources as you can and follow through with some of the actions that they do. Some of the sources that we recommend are your close friends, people you meet and speak on a daily basis, TED talks, interviews or podcasts. Improvement in your state of mind will surely follow.

Write a gratitude journal

Another way to make your positive affirmations and create a much more positive frame of mind is to create a journal filled with gratitude. At the end of the day, take a separate notebook and write down the things that would fill you with more positivity. Whether it is your strengths in life, the things that you are grateful for today, your accomplishments for the day, positive experiences and even monumental moments in your life that have affected your life in a large way.

Just like studying, writing things down is said to create a much deeper impact to the mind. You will also feel more refreshed at night after expressing your emotions and having a energizing your mind after writing everything down.

Exercise regularly

Creating a positive mindset does not only involve managing the state of mind, but it also includes taking care of your overall well-being. Getting tired, exhaustion or fatigue will clearly get in the way of your progress. Taking care of yourself would affect you in many ways including the reduction of stress, improvement of mood and some would even say increase in productivity.

If not, taking time for yourself would also help with the reduction of stress, setting you in a good mood. Other than that, doing that ensures that you would be happier and begin to look forward to those moments rather than feel dreadful about it.

Meditation is beneficial in many ways to the body from decreasing blood pressure, improves blood circulation and many more. But more than physical benefits, meditation greatly benefits mental health. Research by Barbara L. Fredrickson revealed that people who meditate daily would generally have more positive emotions than those who do not. People who meditate are noted to have experienced improvement in positive emotions from increased mindfulness, purpose in life, social support, and decreased illness symptoms.

Changing your frame of mind is not an easy process. It will take trial, error and time. Like changing any personality, it will take a while until your mind is used to the change of habits. But deliberately changing your frame of mind will definitely help you cope with your problems better.

Have you tried these methods? What other method have you tried to create a more positive mindset? Share your experiences in the comment section below!

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